Automatic grain-scale



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

K. H. SGHAPER.

AUTOMATIG'GRAIN SCALE. l

Patented June niiiiil illliillmmn fr' I Ila' l "nl l nnuulu f L11/antilla 5' I .7m/0,46. @wwwa Rs Pnnwuumgmpher. wnningmn, D. o

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2'.

KfH. SCHAPBR AUTOMATIG GRAIN SCALE. No. 364,964. Patented June 14, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

KASPER H. SOHAPER, OF LINNS MILLS, MISSOURI.

AUTOMATIC GRAI N-SCALE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 364,964, dated June 14. 1387- Applioation filed January 13, 1887. Serial No. 224,244. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.:

Be it known that I, KAsrER H. SCHAPEE, of Linns Mills, Missouri, have made a new and useful Improvement in Grain Scales, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In operating grain-scales as hitherto made this difficulty is experienced: The stream of grain flowing to the scale is in practice a variable one, sometimes larger and sometimes smaller in cross-section, and in consequence the weights vary, it being impraeticable to cnt off a varying stream, as the weights are made so that the same amount of grain shall always enter the weighing-compartment.

The present improvement is designed to correct the difficulty referred to, as by means of it the grain is delivered into the weighinghopper at a uniform rate, irrespective of the flow, before reaching theweighing-hopper, being uniform or not.

The most desirable mode of carrying out the improvement is exhibited in the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a View in perspective of theimproved scale. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. ,3 is a View in perspective of the valve which may be used at the central opening at the upper end of the chamber above the weighing-hopper, and Fig. 4 is a vertical Y section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Thesameletters of reference denote the same parts.

The principal feature of the improvement is a chamber, A, above the weighingliopper B,which receives the grain to be weighed,and is so constructed as to cause the grain at the times of weighing to be delivered in a. uniform stream into the weighing hopper, so that whether the grain iiows ,into the chamber at a uniform rate or not it is always discharged therefrom at the same rate at the times of cutting off the delivery into the weighing-hopper. The most desirable means for effecting such a delivery into the weighing-hopper, as well as the preferable form of weighing-hopper, are as follows: The chamber A,by means of a valve-seat, a, and valves a' a2, isv divided into two compartments, a3 andai. The grain is received in the upper compartment, c, and

thence it falls through the openings a5 a a in the valvescat a inlo the lower compartment,

a4, thence into the weighing-hopper B, thence 'delivered from the chamben'A. When the complement has been delivered into one of the compartments-say the compartment b.- the weighinghopper drops slightly, as indicated by the broken lines, Fig. 4, and the compartment-bottom b opens and allows the grain to drop from the compartment b into the subhopper C. The falling of the grain causes the sub-hopper to drop, (the movement is indicated by the broken lines, Fig. 4,) and in eonsequence thereof the valvular mechanism of the receiving-chamber A is actuated and the weighing operation is repeated, the grain now passing into the other compartment, b', of the weighing-hopper. A

As the principal feature of the improvement is directly connected with the valvular mechanism of the chamber A, its construction and operation will be more particularly described.

Referring to Fig. 4, whatever grain that has previously accumulated in the lower compartment, c, is supposedl to have dropped therefrom through the opening b4L into the weighing-hopper and past the valve If* into .the compartment b, and the filling of that compart-ment is being completed by means of such grain as falls through the central opening, a, in the valve-seat a. 4This opening a5 is in y,practice smaller in area than the cross-sec`- tional area of the grainstream entering the chamber A when at its smallest, and hence the stream falling through the opening a is always constant, and the cutoff for arresting the descent of the grain into the weighing-hopper IOO or either of its compartments at the times of weighing can, in consequence of the constancy ol` the stream ot' grain, be adjusted to admit the same amount of grain regularly into the weighing hopper or either of its compartments.

To adapt the machine to different kinds or grades of grain, the opening ai is adapted to be enlarged or diminished to a limited extent; and a convenient procedure in this respect is to employ one or more slides, the openings aT in which vary somewhat in size from each other, and are smaller than the opening a, and when a particular kind or grade of grain is being run through the scale the slide be longing to that grade is inserted above the valveseat, substantially as shown. rThe grain continues to fall through the opening a into the compartment b until theproper weight has been received therein. The weighing-hopper then drops, as described, causing, by the meanshcrcinat'ter referred to, the bottom bi" to turn on its pivot b and thereby provide for discharging the grain from the compartment b into the subi hopper (l. The movement is communicated to the valve b2, causing the valve to turn on its pivot, and close the entrance into the compartment b and open that into the compartment b. Immediately after this described movement of the valve b2 the following occurs: The falling of the grain into the sub-hopper C causes that part (the sub-hopper C is suspended by means of the weighted cords c from the bearings c) to drop, as above described. The movement, by means of the rods D D D D', is communicated to the cranks d d d d', which are respectively attached to the shafts c ce as oi" the valves E E a a, Fig. 4. The valves E E are for opening and closing the exit a from the compartment a4, and the valves a a2 serve to open and close the passages a0 a, respectively, in the valve-seat a. The downward movement of the sub-hopper thus causes the exit a to be closed and the passages c a to be opened. rlhe grain then falls through all the openings in the valve-seat and accumulates in the lower compartment, a". Following this, the grain escapes through the outlet ci, from the sub-hopper C, sufiiciently to enable the sub-hopper to rise, whereupon the exit c" of the chamber A is opened and the passages c a,6 closed again, leaving only the passage c open, when the grain-weighing operation is repeated via the compartment b of the weighing-hopper. The grain is then discharged from the compartment b into the subhopper, the valve b2 is turned back again to close the entrance into the compartment b', and to open that into the compartment b, the subhopper is moved again, and the valves of the chamber A operated again, and the grain is again weighed in the compartmentb, and so on.

The weighinghopper, so far as its individual movement is concerned, is operated substantially as in the previously-patented construction above referred to. Some minor features of the construction have been slightly modified. The compartment-bottoms in the present instance are made in a single piece, b", and the device upon the valveshaft at the upper end ofthe weighinghopper, and with which the rods b, leading upward from the part b, connect, has been somewhat changed, substair tially as shown.

I claiml. The combination of the chamber A, the weighing-hopper B, and the sub-hopper C, said chamber A having the valve-seat a., in which are the openings a5 a6 a, the valves c' a, and the valves E E, said weighing-hopper having the compartments b b', the valve b2, and the pivoted bottom b", and said sub-hopper having connections leading to the valves ofsaid chamber A, substantially as described.

2. A grain-scalehaving above the weighinghopper a chamber through which the grain flows to the weighing-hopper, said chamber having meanssuch as a valve-for arresting the grain-flow into the weighing-hopper at the times of weighing, and also having meanssuch as a valve-for graduating the intlow of the grain into said chamber at the times of weighing, substantially as described.

KAsrnR H. soHAPER.

7 itn esses:

C. D. MOODY, A. M. EvEREsT. 

